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Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his extraordinary book The Black Swan presents an interesting story of a ‘Thanksgiving’ Turkey to justify his idea that the past cannot be convincingly used to predict future. The 1000-day well fed Turkey could believe it is having a great life until the 1001st day when it is served for dinner. Interestingly, Taleb says that Black Swan (unpredictable unknown) events happen where randomness is so high. This was seen with General Studies Paper I last time when there was a dramatic increase in questions from current affairs as seen in the previous article.
But unlike Paper I, Paper II does not provide space for such ‘randomness’ as invariably a candidate has to be evaluated on all domains. This could be seen from the chart below. The three major heads – Reading Comprehension, Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude approximately have received the same share of the pie in the last four years and convincingly would remain the same. The article would discuss few points to keep in mind while approaching this year’s paper.

*6 questions on Reading Comprehension were not considered for evaluationNothing more, Nothing less

As Paper II is qualifying (33% minimum marks to be secured) it opens up room for complacency. Give the attention the paper deserves. A dedicated plan to answer 55-60 questions in two hours should enable you to pass comfortably. Choosing to restrict yourself to 35-40 questions is highly risky and you may not get to the next stage even if you top the charts in Paper I.

Play according to your strengths

It is customary that one finds himself in the groove in any one of the three topics. If you feel comfortable in a specific domain hone your skills and maximize scoring in those areas.

Look for easy pickings

Irrespective of the domain you like or hate close to fifty percent of the questions in each topic does not demand the necessity to remember formulae or complex algorithms. Substantiating this with data, in the reasoning section between 40 – 60% of the questions in the last four years is from Analytical and Verbal Reasoning.
In the Quantitative Aptitude section questions on Logical Venn Diagram, Basic Numeracy, Number Series, and Patterns does not require much effort and could be solved easily. There are also few areas which give you maximum returns owing to their recurrence. Conventional domains like Time Speed Distance, Time and Work, Ratio and Proportion though necessitate memorizing formulae are a safer bet when compared to others.

A Significant change in Reading Comprehension

Compared to the first two years, 2015 and 2016 have seen the rise of single question passages. The first two years did not have any, while the last two had 19 and 13 respectively. There is no prediction that the same would follow. But what we can take up from this data is that practice needs to be oriented towards single question passages.
Single question passages are different in that the questions are on ‘logical inference’, ‘most valid conclusion’ and are implicit. Well-rounded practice with both conventional and single passage questions could help you to avoid perplexed expressions in the exam hall.Avoiding Traps

Dodge questions based on their nature and time you need to spend on them. A single tough quantitative aptitude question could consume time equivalent to solving a five-question reasoning puzzle. Few Reading comprehension questions like ‘title for the passage’, ‘author’s opinion’ could be tricky owing to their ambiguity. Choosing a Data Interpretation set where there are fewer possibilities of going wrong is a reasonable method to cross the pass boundary.

By giving the respect this paper deserves, reaching the qualifying mark should be a cakewalk for any person.

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